Composing Your Resume

Printing Your Resume

Have your resume printed so that each copy looks as good as the original. The appearance of your resume makes the first impression and is extremely important.

Your choice of paper also impacts the overall appearance. Stay with standard 81/2 by 11 size; experts recommend using 16- to 20-pound bond paper with 100 percent cotton-rag content. In addition to white, off-white (with a subtle ivory or gray tint) is effective.

In today's job market, you may want to have both print and electronic resumes, ready to send or post at any given moment. The three formats most commonly used are:

• Word processor (e.g., Microsoft Word, etc.) for printing, taking with you to career/job fairs and interviews, and mailing with letters of application.
• Pdf for email and or posting on the Web
• HTML (using standard HTML tags) for posting on the Web.

The general content and organization of both your print and electronic resumes will be essentially the same. On your HTML resume, however, you can add external hyperlinks to your OU department, former employers' Web pages, Web-based projects on which you have worked, professional associations, etc.

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